Thursday, October 29, 2015

I am thrilled to announce that I have been accepted as a member of the Design Team at Crafting For All Seasons. There are two challenges a month - the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month. The challenge beginning today is "All Dressed Up". Our sponsor All Dressed Up Stamps is offering a prize of 2 images to the winner. Challenge rules are posted on the left side of the blog for your convenience.

Although I won't officially start designing for challenges until November, I wanted to create a project with this sweet image. I used my Joann Craft colored pencils on the image and the background papers are from Recollections "Fashionably Chic" paper pad. The corner die cut was made using a Memory Box corner die. Last I added silk flowers to embellish. I will add a sentiment once I decide the occasion it best suits.

Now why not stop by theCrafting For All Seasons challenge blog and check out the inspiration projects from the other team members? I feel honored to be a part of this talented group.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Darlene is our host for the challenge at the Sisterhood this week. Your challenge is to create a card or project that reminds you of fall. I love all the fall colors. All those beautiful yellow, green, red, orange and browns. So here is my project using some of those colors.

I wanted to keep the background muted so that my bow and leaf embellishment would stand out. The background was created on glossy card stock using SU Pumpkin Pie, Marigold Morning and Olive Green inks applied with a sponge. When the ink dried, I added leaves with Color Box White Chalk ink pad and heated with my heat gun for faster drying. Next, I used Close to My Heart Chocolate ink to stamp my leaves and dried with the heat gun. This panel was layered onto a metallic green mat, then onto a chocolate mat and the card front. The leaf was cut using my Cut n' Boss cutting machine and Impression Obsession leaf die. Last, I stamped the sentiment with the Chocolate ink and added the bow.

The card is prettier in person. Just couldn't get the right lighting to really show off the colors. I think the next time I will use darker colors to see if the chalk leaves show up better.

Now how about hopping over to the Sisterhood to check out the inspiration from my sisters and leave them a little love. Then create a project to share with us. You could be one of our top winners.

This cute card is the last of my Fun Stampers Journey card kit. I love the glasses and bow tie. What a great idea for a guy card. I know I will be using this set of stamps for more masculine cards. Just a few simple elements make this card come to life.

I have lots of different paper clips and wiggle eyes, but never know how to use them on cards or other projects. These card kits from Fun Stampers Journey are getting me to think out of the box when I am creating. Now to just find the time for all the projects I want to create.

Thankfully, being part of five different challenge blog design teams, I will have a chance to incorporate some of these ideas into my projects. I am trying to schedule some work time in my craft room everyday. It isn't always easy when my husband is off or I have my 3 year old granddaughter. My husband was very understanding this morning when I told him I needed some uninterupted time in my craft room to work on blog and challenge projects.

Now it is time to get him some lunch and do some housework before my granddaughter gets here.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting with me. I hope you enjoyed viewing my project for today.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

I have been having so much fun with my new card kit from Fun Stampers Journey called "Dapper Birthday". Today's project is a masculine birthday card.

Oatmeal Cookie card stock was used for the base. Next I adhered the River Stone and Denim Days panels. Close to My Heart Desert Sand ink was used to stamp the hair and beard onto the white card stock label. After stamping the sentiment onto white card stock with Stampin' Ups Midnight Muse ink, I fussy cut around the image and used dimensionals to adhere to the image panel. Last I stamped the bow tie in the Midnight Muse ink and fussy cut around it. After wrapping the twine around the card 3 times, I tied in a bow, then added the bow tie with dimensionals.

There are 36 luscious colors in the Fun Stampers Journey ink and papers. I try to buy a few colors with each order and hope to have all the colors by the first of the year. The ink pads are a combination of pigment and die inks. I love how beautiful these colors are and the ease of stamping with them.

Once I have all the inks, I want to start purchasing the matching papers. I also love their punches. The punches are a square shape that fit into a handle. Most of the punches range in size from 3/4" to 1 3/4".

With over 700 items in the catalog, my wishlist gets longer and longer. Maybe I should sent this list to Santa.

Well, time to get back to the work. Thanks for visiting with me today.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

As promised on Monday, here is the second card I made using the "Dapper Birthday" kit. It is hard to tell from the picture, but the dark blue circle is Pearled Basics paper and is very shiny.

The base is Rock Candy card stock with Oatmeal Cookie and Denim Days card stock layered on top. The designer paper is from the "Going Places" paper pack. The mustache was stamped onto Whip Cream card stock, fussy cut with scissors and then adhered to the Pearled circle with diemensionals. Twine was wrapped around one corner of the star and tied into a knot, then adhered with a clear drying craft glue. Last I added the silver sequins. All of these items can be found at Fun Stampers Journey.

My order for the "Snow Buddy" stamp & die set just arrived and I can't wait to begin some winter cards and treat holders. This stamp set includes the cutest snowman, snowflakes and sentiments. One of the sentiments will be perfect for cocoa treat packs.

Well, that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by and visiting. Have a great day.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I have a couple of parties to attend with friends. So I decided to start on some favors to give out along with our gift exchange. I love to recycle or upcycle items and this treat holder seemed like another great idea for toilet paper rolls.

I started by cutting the toilet paper rolls in half. Then I cut 2 1/2" x 6" strips of textured black card stock to wrap around the tp roll. The strip is adhered with red line tape. Next I punched 2 1/8" scalloped circles using my EK success punch. Tombow Multi Use Mono Glue adhered the circle to the bottom of the hat. Red organdy ribbon is the band around the hat and small silk pointsettia flowers and leaves were adhered with glue dots to finish the hats.

Once I purchase the candy, I will fill plastic treat bags and add them to the hat. I will also add a tag to the ribbon that will close the treat bag. Very easy and quick project to put together.

Trying to decide what other treat holder I want to make. There are so many great ideas on Pinterest and I want to try them all.

Thanks for visiting with me today. I love hearing from you, so if you have time, drop me a line.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Friday evening I had the chance to help my friend, Judy, make these adorable mummy candy holders for one of her club meetings. Isn't it amazing what you can do with toilet paper rolls and crepe paper?

First we taped the end of the crepe paper to the back of a tp roll. Then crossed over the bottom of the roll, added the candy and continued to wrap the tp roll twice and taped the end. Next, we added two wiggly eyes. Last, using a glue dot to adhere the end of a piece of crepe paper (folded in half) we wrapped it around the tp roll slightly covering one eye and used another glue dot to adhere the end. Since Judy had candy left over, we made three of these cute little guys for my grandchildren. You can find the original post here. The originals were created as mini pinatas. We just decided not to use the string.

Monday, October 19, 2015

This month's card kit from Fun Stampers Journey is called "Dapper Birthday". What a perfect stamp set for the guys. Along with the barber pole there are beards, mustaches, a bow tie, glasses and four sentiment stamps.

All the card stock, designer paper and embellishments were included in the kit, along with instruction sheets to make 4 cards. The barber pole was colored with regular colored pencils. The image and the sentiment were stamped with Fun Stampers Journey Black Licorice ink.

Masculine cards are always a challenge for me, but with this kit I know my cards will turn out great. The papers and the ink pads come in such luscious colors. This kit also included a wooden star, silver sequins and natural twine to use on some of the cards.

I will have another card to share with you on Thursday, so please stop by again.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Hello everyone! I am excited to once again be the hostess for The Sisterhood of Crafters challenge. I have so many dies and punches, but don't use them very often. I guess I'm a little intimidated by them. So with that in mind I decided the theme for my challenge would be "Die-lirious and Punchy". I have difficulty creating a project using one or more of my dies and punches, so I am challenging myself.

My husband and I will celebrate our 35th Wedding Anniversary in November and that was my inspiration for the card I created.

The base card was embossed using my Craftwell Diamond embossing folder. I used my large eyelet die nested with an oval die to create the frame for the bridal couple (Cheery Lynn Designs die), both cut from pastel gold mirror board. The bridal couple die cut was too large for the oval mat, so I cut it down to fit inside the frame. A large oval die was used to cut the mat for the couple. Pop dots give the couple some dimension. After cutting the Memory Box Madera Corner die, I cut pieces to fit in the top corners and added the Memory Box Love Script. Last, I added some white daisies with pearl centers, white roses and an organdy bow. The stick pin was created with a corsage pin and beads.

I am very happy with the finished project and may make more using different colors of this gorgeous mirror board from Create and Craft.

Monday, October 5, 2015

This past Saturday I had a craft show at the Fairhope Methodist Church in a nearby city. Once again it was a cold, rainy day. I am pleased with the outcome. I made back my space rental and about $30 profit. Most of my sales came from $1-$2.50 items.My biggest sellers were my Minion Pixie stix holders, Christmas gift card holders and emery board holders.

I only took items that sold well from my last craft show. I really need to get to work on more cards.

Hoping to get together with my friend, Darlene, this week or a play date. She is a great motivator, and that is what I need right now.

I do most of my crafting from Friday-Sunday when I don't have my granddaughter. She is a very lively 3 year old and wants Grandma to play with her every minute that she is here. I love every minute I spend with her. She is the mirror image of my daughter in looks and personallity. Wouldn't miss the time with her for anything in the world.